WHO responds to medicine shortages in Iraq, June 2014Humanitarian action has entered unchartered territory in terms of the number of people requiring assistance, mainly as a result of the crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic, where almost 9.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance as of May 2014. Overall, more than 56 million people in 13 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region are currently affected by natural disasters and violence resulting from political conflict.